Sally & Atif

Photography by Perspectives Photo & Cinema

Atif and I first met six years ago down at Otago Uni where we were both studying at the time.

After being together for five years (four of those years being long distance), Atif flew over from Methven and took me to the highest point in Auckland – Orbit Restaurant in the Sky Tower and popped the question just before dinner.

We got married on Saturday 21st April 2018 at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Auckland City. The reception was at the events centre at the Auckland War Memorial Museum

We chose St Patrick’s Cathedral for our ceremony venue as it’s beautiful and historic. It’s a special church that holds big Catholic masses, joining all the Catholic parishes in Auckland. The only reception venue to tick all our boxes was the Auckland War Memorial Museum. We wanted something unique and didn’t want a room with four walls, instead we wanted windows with views, something open and big enough to hold our huge guest list of 240 people.

Fadia and her lovely team from Stylish Weddings and Events created our flower arrangements and bouquets. My absolute favourite type of flowers is gypsophilas – they can be paired with nothing and still look good! So for our bridesmaid bouquets, we had white roses and gypsophilas with a bit of greenery, which tied in beautifully with the bridesmaids' off-the-shoulder grey tulle dresses. The floral arrangements at the reception consisted of white roses, two types of white chrysanthemums, gypsophila and greenery.

Our wedding cake was comprised of sevens tiers. We had three flavours across the whole cake; the tiers were lemon, earl grey tea or chocolate flavour and all the tiers were filled and covered with Whittaker’s White Chocolate ganache. The bottom tier was a special lemon cake filled with Whittaker’s White Chocolate ganache, lemon curd and freeze-dried raspberries.

I’ve always wanted the princess type of wedding gown. I tried on so many dresses in New Zealand and Melbourne but could not find “the one”. My mother suggested we get one custom made. A very talented family friend, Ghada Baraz, helped design my wedding dress. She provided me with different ideas, types of materials and styles until I knew exactly what I wanted before creating the dress of my dreams.

My bridesmaids consisted of my two best friends and three cousins. Their dresses were chosen from ASOS. I had to pick a colour that did not clash with ivory and didn’t want them too pale. My husband wanted to stand out so he got his suit custom made at M.J Bale. He wore a white shirt, white tuxedo jacket with black trousers and a black bow tie. His groomsmen wore hired black suits from Munns The Man’s Store.

The day goes by so quickly so enjoy every second and remember what’s done is done now. Even if things go wrong just go with it! It’s most likely your guests won’t even notice unless you make a big deal out of it.